Nowadays, there is proposed a probe information system including: a probe vehicle that acquires and uploads traffic information of a road on which the probe vehicle is traveling; and a center-side system (for example, a traffic condition providing system) that transmits (distributes) a traffic condition, which includes congestion information, to respective vehicles, based on the traffic information. In accordance with this technology, the respective vehicles, which have received the traffic condition from the center-side system, become capable of searching appropriate routes based on the congestion information included in the traffic condition, and become capable of arriving at a destination or the like in a short time. Note that, nowadays, the probe vehicle is applied only to a part of vehicles such as vehicles, which are ready for a telematics service of a car manufacturer, buses, and taxis; however, it is estimated that the probe vehicle will be applied also to general vehicles.
There is a case where, in the probe information system as described above, the traffic information (probe information) acquired by the probe vehicle is inaccurate or inappropriate. In such a case, it sometimes takes longer to arrive at the destination or the like when the vehicle travels through the searched route than when the vehicle travels through other routes, and as a result, the respective vehicles sometimes become incapable of traveling through the appropriate routes.
Accordingly, a variety of technologies are proposed in order to solve such a problem as described above. For example, in Patent Document 1, there is disclosed a technology for adjusting the probe information in such a manner that probe information indicating an abnormal operation such as abnormal stop is prevented from being used. Moreover, a variety of technologies which follow the above-described technology are also proposed. For example, in Patent Document 2, a technology for collecting drive history information of a driver is disclosed.